VoteVets asks Walsh to apologize

3/30/12 3:16 PM EDT

VoteVets.org, the largest group of progressive veterans, is asking Rep. Joe Walsh for an apology following his comments to POLITICO about Tammy Duckworth's military service.

"Just when you think Congressman Joe Walsh couldn't sink any lower, he insults the service and sacrifice of our Veterans, particularly one like Tammy who lost her limbs in the line of duty. Congressman Walsh owes Tammy Duckworth and all Veterans an apology for his outrageous disrespect for their service," said VoteVets.org chairman Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran himself.

When presented in a recent interview with the powerful biography Duckworth brings to the campaign, Walsh offered the following:

"I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country,” said Walsh, simultaneously lowering his voice as he leaned forward before pausing for dramatic effect. “Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”

“What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran … ehhh,” he continued. “She is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district."

Duckworth campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey also mentioned the remark in a release yesterday following the vote on the GOP budget.

"Joe is being his usual inappropriate self. While he focuses on making disrespectful and outlandish comments in an effort to gain attention in the press, Tammy is focused on opposing initiatives to gut Medicare and meeting with residents of the 8th," she said.